Uncertainty
by ergo1
Summary: Don't judge by the summary (which I only say because I am terrible at writing summaries). gay


Jack unlocked the grey metal door to his apartment, ushering Dan towards the couch in the dark living room before flipping a switch which revealed that the couch was made of slightly worn, brown leather. Dan flopped down on the couch, still chuckling about the event that had led them to be here, while Jack went to get some beers from his fridge in the next room.

''Thanks. Some night, huh?'' Dan commented as he accepted his beer.

''Yeah. Who would've thought that we would get kicked out of that bar for dancing on the counter. There must've been at least ten of us up there'' Jack let out another huff of laughter, which Dan joined in, then taking a breath to remark,

''Hey, I don't recall seeing you up there.''

''Hah, even in my drunken state I would never be crazy enough to do such a stupid thing.'' Jack shot a smirk in Dan's direction. Something jumped inside of Dan. He had noticed Jack's bright green eyes many times before, because how couldn't he. The jet black hair framing them caused them to stand out and shine brighter than any he had seen before, and now that smirk combined with them gave Jack the perfect expression.

''Stupid but fun! You gotta let yourself go some time, stop being so uptight.'' Dan's words were softened by his teasing tone, and seeing Jack smiling at him reassured him that he had taken it the way that Dan had intended. ''You clearly hadn't had enough to drink yet, yeah, that must be it. Let me fix that.'' Dan headed into the kitchen to fetch them another beer.

''Sure, as long as you don't start dancing on _my_ table. I don't know about you, but I like my house to not look like a dump.'' Dan heard the call from the other room. As he returned he placed his hands over his heart, mocking deep offense.

''Oh how could you say such a thing! I know my house could never own up to your anally retentive orderliness, but I've had several people tell me they liked my house.''

''Pure pity, that's the only reason they could have had to make such a clearly false statement.'' Jack laughed as he received a friendly punch in the arm. He liked this witty banter between them, although the alcohol may have reduced it somewhat on the witty side. He did not talk this way to any of his other friends, which he did not have too many of anyway. Usually his conversations covered nothing but work topics and the occasional small talk about weather. This was a refreshing change in tone, and he enjoyed it.

Jack was jostled back to the conversation as Dan let himself drop back down onto the couch next to him. After giving him a short glance of playful irritation, Jack directed his gaze back at the green bottle in his hands. Dan did the same, gazing at his bottle, but unlike Jack's, his thoughts were not blankly focused on the little image of a dark-looking house wrapped around each beer. All of his mind and senses were focused on the little distance that was separating his arm from Jack's. Dan had not intended to sit this close to him. He had apparently miscalculated the distance, probably due to the several beers and couple of shots he had gulped down that night, but now that they were both resting back against the soft couch, a little cool against their backs, Dan could not help noticing that Jack's arm was now very close to his own. He could feel the heat radiating off his friend's skin, and just moving his arm a little to the left would create contact with a muscular arm. As Dan was wondering whether Jack was just as aware of this mind-controlling little space between them, Jack leaned forward on the couch to rest his arms on his thighs, still observing his bottle. Dan looked at Jack. Had that short time of near contact been a hint? Had he missed his chance? Did he see a hint of disappointment in the lowered eyes and the rough line of his jaw? He forced himself to look away, staring instead at the light grey of the carpet. He knew Jack would not notice such a thing, he was straight, and had proven so on multiple occasions. This was the alcohol doing the thinking for him. He would have to watch out so he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Jack shifted his position, coming to a rest with his elbows on his knees. He had observed the cover of the beer, wondering why anybody would buy beer with a picture on it that could give you the creeps every time you caught sight of it. Then he remembered that he himself had bought that beer. Why? Because it's good, so screw the picture. Hahahaha. He let out a sharp breath of laughter, earning him a quizzical look from Dan. Being too lazy to explain his thoughts, he just responded with a ''you're so stupid…'', leaned back, and closed his eyes. Dan studied this action, trying to decide how much he could reasonably read into it, but before he could come to a decision, Jack reopened his eyes to look at him, causing him to stumble over a breath. Jack didn't notice, and decided that it had been quiet for too long and that he didn't want to stop talking to Dan.

"Why have we never done this before…? It's been so much fun."

"Well, my friend, that would be your fault." With the conversation to concentrate on, Dan was able to steady his mind away from wondering about Jack.

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"You work too hard, and its not every day that your girlfriend breaks up with you, and since that seems to be the only time you let yourself go, it's clearly you that has been preventing this fun night from happening earlier." Dan stated matter of factly, realizing too late what he had just said. How could he be so stupid to bring this up again. Wasn't that why they had gone to the bar in the first place – to drown out the hurt that Jack was feeling? It had seemed like Jack had forgotten about the harsh break up he had been forced to live through earlier in the day, and if only for a few hours, but now Dan, stupid Dan, had brought it up again. He could see Jack visibly deflating, and that made him want to console him in some way, though he had no idea how. Why did he have to say it…

Jack attempted to push back the painfully recent memories, but without much success. He remembered Gina's angry eyes, the exact movement of her lips as she said her final words before storming out into the street, away from him. He could still feel the ache of his heart, that gut wrenching feeling that had made him strongly doubt that he would be able to keep in his breakfast for another second.

"Man, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it. This isn't your fault." Jack gave Dan an unconvincing look that he had hoped was reassuring. It failed to even convince himself.

Jack felt an extreme tiredness fall on him, the copious amounts of alcohol he had consumed doing its job. His eyes began to droop, and all he wanted to do in the world was sleep. Sleep and forget the pain he was in.

Dan was not convinced in the slightest by Jack's reassurance, and continued to curse himself, pausing only to hear Jack's explanation of him being tired and having to go to sleep, followed shortly by an offer of the couch for Dan. As Jack stumbled off, crashing into a table here, and stumbling against a wall there, Dan continued to curse himself. He had ended this great night in which he had finally felt that his friendship with Jack was becoming something more than small talk at the coffeeshop counter, spotted with constant interruptions from Jack's older brother and other customers, with a stupid comment about his girlfriend. He valued Jack's friendship a lot, and did not care to lose it.

Jack groaned and turned over in his bed. Why was someone shining a flashlight right in his eyes? It stung like hell. He covered his head with his pillow and was about to drift back to sleep, but a small part of his brain reminded him that he had work today. Letting out a great groan, he forced himself to turn and look at the digital alarm clock next to his bed, glowing lightly in the morning sun. Or the not-so-morning sun. Shit. He was late for work – had missed half his day, in fact. Jack stumbled out of bed in a sudden panic. Where was his stupid phone? Racing into his living room he made a grab for his phone on the table, and stumbled over a sleeping Dan on the floor, wrapped tightly in one of Jack's blankets. What was he doing here? 14 missed calls. Jack flew into the shower, dried off in record time, and got half-way dressed before he was even awake enough to remember the previous day. The realization had him surrendering to his shaking knees and sitting on his bed. Gina had broken up with him. He had gone to a bar with Dan, gotten wasted. Gina had broken up with him. The urge to go to work passed out of Jack, and he crawled defeatedly back into bed.

Dan awoke shortly from something stepping on his leg, but was too hung over to do anything besides drift back to sleep. When he awoke again several hours later, he sat up in a daze. Jack's apartment looked even more proper and cleaned up in the daylight, if you left out the empty beer bottles on the table and floor. Did they really drink all of those? Dan found he couldn't remember much from last night, and he hoped he hadn't done anything stupid. Dan assumed Jack must be at the coffee shop, because he had work at the moment, and him being Jack, where else would he be. He dragged himself into the kitchen for a glass of water, when he spotted the bundle lying in Jack's messed up bed through the open bedroom door. Forgetting about his plan to hydrate his body, Dan went to closer inspect the lump. To his surprise he found a sleeping Jack, halfway wapped into his twisted blanket. Dan looked at the clock next to Jack's bed. 13:25. This was not good. Jack never missed work, but in light of the recent turbulences in Jack's life, Dan was not sure whether he wanted to wake him. His gaze followed Jack's rumpled hair, which looked more perfect than ever like this, to the back of his neck, over his jawline, and down his arm to where his hand was clutching a part of the blanket. What Dan would give to be able to touch that perfect neck, to feel the embrace of those strong arms. He frowned. He had to stop these ridiculous thoughts. Jack had just broken up with his girlfriend. _Girl_friend. With a sigh, Dan sat on the edge of the bed, careful to put a safe distance between himself and the sleeping man. This thought brought back memories of last night. Hmpf. A hint. How could Dan sitting down too closely to Jack have been a hint from Jack. How could he have even had such illogical thoughts…oh yeah, beer. Dan was immensely grateful that he had not done anything last night which he would have dearly regretted today.

Dan arrived at the coffee shop to be greeted by a tirade from Jack's older brother, mostly consisting of 'where is he's and 'what the hell does he think a job is'. The nearly irritatingly strong work ethic seems to run in the family.

"Come on, Chris, give him a break. You know what he's been through." Dan attempted to defend his friend from his brother's wrath.

"Break his neck is what I'll do when I see him." Chris let out an exasperated breath, but his expression softened. "How's he doing?"

"Not too well, as you can tell by his absence. He blames himself for the breakup."

"Yeah, I get how he feels. It's not like I haven't been through my own share of bad breakups. But from what I know, it's best to continue with everyday life as soon as possible, because it'll get harder to return each day he's gone. Coffee?"

"Yes, please. It's best, maybe, but definitely not easiest."

"True. Still, I'll try to get him back here by tomorrow."

"Good luck with that. He's pretty destroyed. I think ill go see him again later on today though, bring him some food and help him clean up the mess we made, if he's awake by then."

"No need for that, it seems. Look who's decided to show up to his job." Chris raised his voice on the last sentence so Jack, who had just pushed open the door to the shop, could hear the accusation. Opting to make an attempt at escaping a scolding, Jack did not answer and merely pulled a grimace in response, sitting down for a cup of coffee. Chris sighed and decided to give in. He would have plenty of time to scold his little brother when he was feeling better again.

"I expect you to be here on time tomorrow, ok?"

"Hmmm." Jack did not feel like working. He felt like repeating yesterday evening, getting drunk, getting over Gina.

Dan was worried for his friend, but he knew there was nothing he could do to speed up the healing process. He caught himself wishing that Jack would seek him out for comfort, seeing him slumped over in his chair like that, but promptly banished that thought. It was more likely Jack would go to his brother. He knew him way better and they were a lot closer than he was to Jack, so why would Jack come to him. So Dan decided to just stare at his coffee instead.

Jack looked at the black watch buckled around his wrist. The club should be open soon. He had spent the previous couple of hours alternately walking around town and squatting in front of the club trying without success to hold in his tears. He had never really had a girlfiend like Gina before. Up until her, he had never had a girlfriend for more than a week, and the very most of his encounters were one night stands. It had never been difficult to pick up girls, as he knew that he was attractive, and with that came a confidence that he knew how to use to his advantage. It had almost become a sort of game, trying to see how fast he could convince the current target to go home with him. It was almost funny how different he had been back then. A messy, irresponsible playboy. Gina had changed all that. She was the girl for him, and for her he had instantly changed his ways when he fell in love. They had a great three years together, but he broke it all. He broke it all and he would never see her again.

Jack's thoughts were interrupted by the clicking of a lock, and the door to the club swinging open shortly after. He rose and headed in, straight for the bar. There were very few people with him, but that didn't alter his plans at all. It would fill up soon enough, and by that time, he would be nice and drunk, not having to worry about her anymore.

Dan decided to check up on Jack, who had disappeared earlier in the day. He hoped to find him at his apartment, but after ringing the doorbell multiple times without being able to perceive any sign of life on the other side of the door, Dan had to face the fact that Jack was most likely back at the bar. With an empathetic sigh, Dan made his way to the bar. He did not find Jack until he entered the club he was at, after having visited two other bars and another club. Figures he'd find him in the last place he could look. When Dan did finally set eyes on Jack, he almost wished he hadn't found him. Jack was on the dance floor, rocking from side to side in tact to the song, and kissing some brunette with way too tight clothes. Dan felt a sharp pain in his chest, though he pushed the sensation away before he was forced to analyse why he felt this way for his friend. His very very obviously straight friend, Dan reminded himself.

Jack was enjoying himself, or at least that's what he told himself as he clutched the girl in front of him closer to his body. When he was jerked away from her by the arm, he looked irritatedly at the perpetrator. Dan. Why was he here? He didn't go to clubs. Had he followed him here? He was surprisingly strong, dragging him off the dance floor to one of the booth seats to the side.

"Lemme go." Jack protested, but he received no response, and neither did his tugging in the opposite direction seem to do anything.

Dan pushed Jack down onto a seat, and sat down across from him, then confronted him on the situation.

"What are you doing, Jack?"

"Hmm well, let's see. I _was_ dancing with this girl, but then this idiot came and dragged me away." Jack snapped back.

"More like kissing her to the point of near suffocation…" Dan mumbled, but Jack didn't seem to pick it up. Dan continued, "Look, Jack, I know this must seem like the best solution right now, but getting drunk every day is really not gonna help."

"What do you know. You don't know how it feels to lose someone. She left me, not you."

Dan was compelled to shoot back that no, he did not know how it felt to lose someone, but he damn well knew how it felt to have no chance of ever being with someone you love, and how it felt to see that person throw themselves into a mess they would be hard pressed to get out of again. Dan was shocked at his own thoughts. What was he thinking. He didn't love Jack, there was no way. First of all, he hadn't even known him for that long…Well, it had been several years now, but they had never really been close friends until some weeks back. You couldn't fall in love with someone in just a couple of weeks, right? Second of all, Dan could not be in love with Jack because what did Dan even know about love. He had never been in love, so how could he know these emotions he was feeling were love. And third of all, Jack was straight. Dan couldn't be in love with a straight guy, could he? No, he was definitely not in love with Jack.

Dan came out of his denials to find himself staring at the red seat in front of him. It was empty. Oh god, now he'd have to go find Jack all over again. Dan got up, cursing himself for having let Jack escape, but soon let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Jack just a few steps from the booth, chatting up another girl. He did this amazingly well. It was no wonder that they couldn't resist him. He had this way of standing that made him appear powerful and confident, and when he looked at them, his eyes never strayed, so they would feel like they were the only one for him. Combine that with the compliments and sweet words he delivered flawlessly and the girls had not a chance of escape. With another sigh, Dan walked up, muttered an "excuse us", and dragged Jack back to the booth by his arm. Jack looked extremely irritated at having been disturbed a second time, but he also looked so drunk that Dan was sure he was barely even thinking anything at this point.

This time, Dan had taken the precaution of having Jack sit down first, and then sitting down next to him so he would be placed between Jack and the rest of the club. He didn't want another escape attempt, and needed Jack to drink some water, or rather a lot of water, so he could get him home. Dan very soon came to regret this decision, because no sooner were they seated did Jack want to leave again, which led to Jack trying to push Dan off the bench. Dan resisted, but Jack was strong, and feeling Jack's whole side meeting his own only made Dan weaker than ever.

"Jack!"

"Whaaat? Lemme go. I gotta make some new friends. Hot friends."

"Jack, you're drunk. Let's just stay here for a while, ok?"

With that, the weight pushing against Dan eased away as Jack instead slumped into the corner of the booth, watching Dan sullenly. Dan stared back, glad that his argument had worked. What had become of his friend. Just two days ago he was the happy, responsible Jack that Dan had always known.

Jack stared at Dan. He was blocking his way. He should move. Jack had to go back. Back to the pretty girl. Dan didn't seem to understand this. Jack just wanted to use his old tactics again. They gave him confidence. He needed confidence right now. So he decided to just use his tactics on the only person there.

Dan watched Jack slide up to him. What was he planning to do now? Jack came closer, leaning his head toward Dan's. Dan moved back, but Jack followed. Dan was sensitively aware of every part of his body, and exactly how close it was to Jack's. Jack's strong right hand was on Dan's knee, burning through his jeans and sending hot shots up and down his leg. His other arm was on the backrest of the bench, partially encircling Dan, but still not touching him. Dan wondered once again what it would be like to be held in those well muscled arms, secure in their embrace. Dan did not know how to react. He could smell the beer on Jack's breath, but he could also smell the manly smell of his cologne. He was starting to sweat, all of this was driving him crazy. But nothing hit home as much as those piercing green eyes, staring straight into his light brown ones. When Jack let out a warm breath that Dan could feel on his cheeks and mouth, he nearly lost control. He couldn't help looking from Jack's beautiful eyes, to his lips, back to his eyes, then his soft lips again. He wanted nothing so much as to kiss him right now, he couldn't resist any longer. He leaned in slightly, closer to Jack than he had ever been before, breathing hard now. Then Jack collapsed. He lay down behind Dan's back, completely passed out. Dan remained in his position for a few more seconds, not being able to comprehend what had just happened. He let his head fall to the table in front of him, hitting it harder than he had intended. Burying his head in his arms, he willed his racing heartbeat to slow down. He let out a deep, shaky brath he hadn't known he'd been holding, and tried to figure out what had happened to him.

He had become Jack's target. He had come to experience the full power of Jack's seductive skills. Though he was really drunk, so that was probably not even the best he could do. Dan took another deep breath. Why had Jack even done that? What if it had been a strategy to get him to move. Did Jack know that Dan could be manipulated in this way, did he know he was gay? Dan shook his head. There was no way Jack knew. Dan was openly gay, but Jack couldn't know because it had never come up in conversation, and Dan had never told him about any of his boyfriends. No, Jack couldn't have known. So why did he choose to do it? What if he just wanted to do it because…because Jack was feeling attracted to him? Dan decided to ignore that ludicrous thought. Jack was clearly very drunk, and he had been hitting on girls no more than a few minutes before he had tried to seduce Dan. So Dan settled with the explanation that Jack was just really drunk, and began his task of rousing Jack so that he could drag him to his apartment for a good night's sleep.

Jack woke up with a terrible pounding in his head. Chris' annoying voice wasn't helping anything. Chris was telling him to get up, but there was no way he would do that. Why should he – the world was crap. Jack let out a surprised shout as he felt himself falling into nothingness before hitting the floor with a painful thud. That thing he called a brother had actually pushed him off the bed. This was very nearly enough cause for Jack to kill him, but he was still too tired and the pounding headache wouldn't go away.

"Come on, Jack! Wakey wakey, time for your job!"

"Why are you here…" Jack grumbled, sitting up to lean his head against the mattress.

"To get you back on your feet, little brother. You gotta stop drinking and moping aound all day."

"I meant why do you have to be here, on earth, annoying me."

"Same answer. Someone's gotta look after and annoy you, right?" Chris grinned. Jack just glared back.

"I'm not getting up."

"Don't make me drag you out the door. Let's say you come down to the shop and I'll brew you an excellent coffee. How's that?"

"No."

"Dan's there already."

"So?"

"Well, I thought you were friends. Also he dragged your drunken ass back home yesterday, so you owe him an apology and some gratitude."

"I didn't ask him to do that."

"He still did. So be happy you have such a good friend and get up."

Chris watched with satisfaction as Jack pulled himself up and dragged himself in the direction of the bathroom. So his brother still had his conscience, knowing he owed one to Dan. He couldn't have dropped completely into his old habits then. Sadly, Chris had to admit that the pile of empty beer bottles still lying around arcoss the living room spoke against that previous hope. He cleaned them up while he waited for Jack, and then took him down to the coffee shop.

Dan froze as he saw Jack plop down in the seat next to him. The memory of last night's sensations was still too vivid in his mind. The way Jack had leaned towards him, letting Dan be intoxicated by his smell. Now Dan could only smell the shampoo of Jack's freshly washed hair. He shook his head and forced himself to relax.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not very good. My idiot of a brother woke me up…It should be illegal to wake someone with a hangover. Punishable by death." Jack glared at his brother as he accepted his coffee. Dan couldn't help but smile.

"I will be doing exactly what I did today for as long as I have to, Jacky. So your options are either stop drinking yourself into oblivion or be woken up with a terrible hangover each day. I might even bring my kid's drumset next time." Chris gave Jack a slap on the shoulder that nearly made Jack spill the hot coffee he was nursing, earning him another glare before he walked off to tend to another customer.

Jack sat next to Dan in silence for a couple of minutes before he remembered why he had been dragged there.

"Dan."

"Yes?" Dan replied way too eagerly, immediately reprimanding himself for it and hoping Jack hadn't noticed.

"Sorry about last night."

Dan wondered whether Jack meant having to be brought home by Dan, or if he meant that…attempt at seduction. _Yeah, Dan, attempt right? He totally succeded._ Dan wanted to make sure, so he asked, "What for?"

"You having to bring me home, of course."

Dan realized that Jack did not remember anything from last night. He didn't know if he was relieved or disappointed by this. "That's alright. I know you're having a really hard time, with Gina and everything."

"I suppose. But that doesn't mean I can act like this. I won't do it again."

"That's good." Dan didn't know what to say. He was happy that Jack was coming to his senses, but he had also never spent as much time with him before as he had in those past days.

"Dan. I don't really remember much of the past two days, but I think I had fun with you. We should hang out more often."

Dan loved it when Jack said his name. It was like a bell ringing, pulling his attention deeper into the conversation and making him more intent on what Jack would say next. Hearing that Jack wanted to hang out with him more often sent Dan into a bliss that couldn't even be broken by the cold, heavy rain that surprised him on his way home.

Over the next few weeks, Jack and Dan spent a lot of time together. Mostly, they were playing video games, but occasionally they also just talked. Jack was happy to finally have a good friend. He had come to feel comfortable around Dan. He did not let this happen with many people. Jack had been hurt too badly to really let anybody into his life, and he had been disappointed too often to let down his guard, but there was something about Dan that made Jack feel he was trustworthy. Jack could not place what this was, but he had decided that it didn't matter. Jack was also making progress in slowly being able to release his mental hold on Gina. Dan was overjoyed to be able to spend so much time with Jack, though it hurt him that he could not delude himself into thinking he had even the slightest glimmer of hope when it came to ever having something more than friendship. Then it happened, on a Wednesday night.

Dan stuck the popcorn into the microwave over at Jack's place. He had to admit that Jack did, in fact, have the nicer apartment, so they usually hung out there. Jack was already settling down on the couch with a red and white checkered blanket, waiting for Dan to return before starting the movie they had chosen. It had been Jack's turn to choose the movie they would rent, but because they both had the same taste, that didn't really matter anyway. Upon the 'ping' of the microwave, Dan took out the steaming bag of popcorn and poured it out into a large, black bowl and brought it over to Jack, setting it down on the table before seating himself at his usual place on the couch – as far away from Jack as he could get without it raising attention. Jack took the bowl of popcorn onto his lap.

"Doesn't popcorn in a black bowl look so much cooler than in any other colored bowl?" Jack mused.

"Erm, no?"

"It does. The black and white contrast is stylish." Jack protested.

"Sure," Dan laughed, "how's it taste?"

"You try it first. For all I know you poisoned it over there." Jack joked, tossing a piece in Dan's general direction. It landed on the green blanket between them. Dan picked up the piece of popcorn and ate it, attesting that it was delicious and his cooking skills were excellent. He then picked up the green blanket and wrapped himself in it. Jack turned his attention to the remote control, turning on the movie and munching on some popcorn.

For about half of the film, the friends were laughing at the movie – one of those horror films that were just so bad you had to laugh. They rolled their eyes at each other when the movie was especially cliché, which happened a lot, and during one of those times they looked at each other it happened.

Jack laughed at the girl running upstairs into the dark hallway awaiting her, and looked over at Dan, who found this to be just as ridiculously funny as Jack had. But when Jack looked into Dan's eyes that time, he saw something he had never seen before. It was a kind of spark, there but gone again just a moment later. Dan turned back to the screaming emitting from the television set, and Jack did the same. But as he looked over to meet Dan's laughing gaze again, there it was. That spark that lasted for the second that Dan had looked at him. Jack turned away, confused. What was this feeling he had. He couldn't identify it, so he wrote it off as unimportant, and returned his concentration to the movie.

"So what did you think of the movie?" Dan inquired after the credits had finished rolling. He always insisted they let the credits finish rolling before turning off the movie. Something about the movie not really feeling like it was over before the credits were done.

"It was…interesting." Jack replied, making Dan laugh because he believed Jack had meant it as a sarcastic comment regarding the movie. Jack had meant that, but he was also considering that strange sensation he had felt before.

"Well, its getting late and I've gotta work tomorrow. So do you, if I recall correctly. Don't wanna make your brother mad again."

"Yeah, I've gotta work tomorrow too." With that, Jack ushered Dan out of his apartment.

The next day, Jack woke up in a bad mood. He glowered at everybody he passed by, earning himself a warning from his brother.

"Jack, if you keep scaring the customers away with that death stare, I will have no choice but to send you to stand in front of the competition's store."

"Fine." Jack grumped, and put on a sarcastic smile.

"Much better." Chris pretended not to notice the fakeness of the smile, and cheerfully went on to do his job. _Why is he always so damn cheerful_, Jack tought with a scowl returning to his features.

"Why so grumpy?" Dan had come out of nowhere.

"Holy…Don't sneak up on me like that, if you want me to live past 30." Jack's mood lightened remarkably upon talking with Dan.

"Maybe I don't."

"Maybe I'll just have to poison your coffee then. What do you want?"

"Latte with cyanide, please." Dan watched his friend as he went to making his coffee. Weeks of practice had enabled him to refrain from staring blatantly at Jack's wide back and those ever so strong arms, but he couldn't for the life of him stop noticing them. This could not be healthy. Doesn't unrequited love always kill either the lover or the loved in fairytales…Dan was still staring contemplatively when Jack turned back around. So much for weeks of training self-control. But Jack hadn't noticed. He never noticed anything, which Dan was glad for. He couldn't risk the friendship. As he received and began to sip his coffee, Dan tried to figure out if he was stupid for staying friends with an incredibly attractive guy who didn't even know he was gay.

As Dan sat at the counter sipping on his coffee, Jack leaned over it, next to him. Usually when he did this, he would observe customers as they enjoyed their coffee. There were some pretty peculiar people in the shop sometimes. Once he saw a woman wearing a purple dress covered in very creepy clown faces. Today there was only a handful of people, and none of them were particularly interesting. So Jack turned his attention back to Dan, but he seemed to be deep in thought, and Jack decided against ripping him out of his thoughts. Jack allowed his eyes to wander over his friend's face. His short, brown hair framed a perfect jawline, and his eyes glittered almost golden in the light today. Had they always been that way? He was an attractive guy, Jack had to admit, and yet he had never seen or heard of a girlfriend, or even a one night stand. Girls should be throwing themselves at him…_Whoa, whoa. What am I thinking? Perfect jawline? Glittering eyes? Attractive guy? What the hell._ Jack interrupted his own musings. He had never thought of any guy like that. Sure, he could see whether he would be attractive to girls or not, but he had never gone into the details like that. Probably just because he never really looked at a guy that closely before. He backed away from the counter to deliver a coffee that Chris had pushed in his direction to one of the tables across the room, forgetting about his weird thoughts. Dan joined him, having finished his coffee.

"I've gotta go do my own job now, but video games at your place again?" Dan proposed.

"Sounds good." Jack agreed, and waved goodbye.


End file.
